The essence of developmental teaching
is choice, with the aim to give children greater control over their learning.

Giving children greater control over learning
increases their sense of self-esteem

Choice relates not only to the substance
of what children learn but also to how it is learnt.

Development recognises that when children
are actively engaged and transforming knowledge they will also be learning
about the very nature of the production and validation of knowledge.

How children learn is an essential part
of developmental because it addresses directly the issue of the timing
of children's maturational learning sequences.

Developmental rests on the idea that naturalistic
contextual learning is the best and most efficient way to learn.

Developmental recognises the interaction
between cognition and emotion in learning, and that skills are best learnt
in the course of working to achieve the main aim of curriculum areas -
usually value-based.

Developmental recognises that children
will gain a multiplicity of meanings, personal to them, from information
they receive or experiences they have.

Developmental helps children to solve
series of child-centred problems.

The tasks for teachers in developmental
is to provide a series of appropriate contexts within which children can
make sense of things in their own way.

An important choice for children in developmental
is to work at a pace, and in a way, that suits their learning styles.

Developmental establishes a sense of continuity
between the various levels and stages of education.

Developmental teaching provides the conditions
which make teachers freer to give attention to individuals, and children
freer to make choices.

Developmental is a philosophy - activity-based
teaching, in its child-centred forms, is how it is put into practice.

For momentum, a developmental classroom
relies not on teacher personality, or teacher command, but on interesting,
pertinent, and manageable activities.

In all the choice that is available, teachers
never relinquish their supervisory function of assessing the worthwhileness
of activities.

Learning boundaries are set so that superficiality
is avoided.

All classrooms have developmental characteristics
but a developmental classroom is one in which the making of choices by
children is a predominant organisational characteristic.

In moving along a developmental continuum
teachers do not make available more choice than their personalities or
professional skills can cope with.

Developmental teaching and learning is
foremostly an attitude of mind in both teachers and children. Once the
attitude of mind is there, the possibilities appear and at that stage it
becomes very simple.

Developmental emphasises evaluation of
learning rather than teaching. As a result, evaluation is mainly carried
out by observing children as they participate in activities.